A New Creation

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. The Greek word translated “creature” is ktisis.

Ktisis – the act of founding, establishing, building etc

the act of creating, creation

creation i.e. thing created

of individual things, beings, a creature, a creation 1b

anything created 1b

after a rabbinical usage (by which a man converted from idolatry to Judaism was called) 1b

the sum or aggregate of things created

institution, ordinance

(J.P. Green’s Literal Translation) 2 Cor. 5:17 So that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new!

The sense of the Greek work is not a living “creature” but something new that is made, a new thing, as a new building; or someone converted from idolatry. And most certainly, the Jewish believers were converted from law-keeping. More strikingly, the Gentiles were converted from idolatry.

Galatians 6:15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision has any strength nor uncircumcision, but a new creation/ktisis. (Green’s)

Now, what is the new thing that God did? Was it not to make one man of two, meaning Jew and Gentile are now heirs together of the kingdom? Could this new creation mean we are a new building? We are its lively stones.

When we believe, we become a part of something bigger than ourselves. This is the biblical viewpoint.

We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. He is in us, we are in Him, He is in God, and God is abiding with us, in a temple made without hands. Jesus established something new. That fits the sense of the Greek word. It also fits the way the scripture views us.

Ephesians 2:19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

Understanding the new creature/creation as a larger entity, yet composed of individuals, we can put that aside and look at what regeneration means. I’m not speaking of “the regeneration” which refers to living in the resurrection. That is a different word entirely.

The word translated “born again” is what I’m looking at here. Fathered or begotten from above, anew. What is it that is begotten? Is it not the person? There is no mention of one’s spirit being reborn, or that the soul must be saved in this life, and body will be reborn or saved in the resurrection, as some are teaching.

Salvation happens once, like sanctification happens once. Not has, is, and will be happening. Passages of scripture that seem to say otherwise must be read in context.

The scripture also says man believes with his heart, and talks about being pure in heart, and loving God with all the heart, and so on. So, we are more than three parts, but at least four. Come on. This whole dividing up man into parts is nuts. And the whole is truly greater than the sum of the parts!

This does not mean we are not made new by the spirit of God. What it means is we need to drop the outside influences on what God has said about us. Check it out.

The popular term, “spirit man”, does not appear in the New Testament!

Nowhere does the scripture say only a man’s spirit is reborn. This is a foreign idea that is being forced to fit where it does not fit. Pagan concepts are trying to wear biblical clothing. Christians are teaching it, and many are listening to it, never questioning. It’s called spiritualism in some parts of this word.

What scripture does say is that we are begotten from above.

How does that happen? 1Corinthians 15:44b-45Thereis a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening (life-giving) spirit.

This passage does not mean that only the spirit is begotten. If that were true, then Jesus would have been a spirit, according to this verse, and would not have had a human body. See where this “man is a spirit but has a soul and lives in a body” thinking takes you?

Some are telling us that only our spirits are now perfect and are “seated” with Christ – but the scripture does not say that. Stop dividing up who we are!

The scripture ways we are saved. We. Not just the spirit. We. We are regenerated from above. We renew our minds. We put on off the old man and put on the new. We are filled with the Holy Spirit. We have received the spirit of adoption.

We will sleep and be the dead in Christ that rise first, unless we are alive when He comes. We will be raised with incorruptible bodies. In an instant, we will be changed. It’s a mystery. Maybe it can’t be explained or understood. Maybe we are to just believe it.

We are now spiritual, rather than natural, because we have the spirit of Christ.

We now understand spiritual things, which the natural man cannot understand. We are alive to the things of the spirit.

Nowhere does the scripture say a person’s spirit was dead, and gets reborn at salvation.

It’s rather that a person’s understanding is enlightened. (Eph 1:18) The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

To all who teach the tri-part man doctrine, and to all who have heard it and believed it, go back and start over. You will have lost nothing by looking at this, and have much to gain from a better understanding.

Many high profile teachers have changed their minds about things, after having preached and taught them for years, and having written books. They have then changed their teaching, written new books, and made new videos. Let God be true.